


Of Magic and the Melodramatic

by Arcanas



Category: Original Work, the arcana
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 05:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcanas/pseuds/Arcanas
Summary: In which two magical friends muse on life.





	Of Magic and the Melodramatic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WarieLym](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarieLym/gifts).



> Disclaimer: Original characters in an established setting. Setting and the work of The Arcana belong to Nyx Hydra. Gaizka and Uriah belong to Warie. Parthos belongs solely to me.

“ _Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected._ ”   
― Charles Lamb,  **The Life, Letters and Writings of Charles Lamb**

**\----**

“Most of the scars are from miscalculations.”

“Like mathematics?”

“Of a sort.”

“I'm not following.”

“Chronomancy has a great composition relying on mathematical probabilities and outcomes.”

“Boring.”

The silence that filled the small balcony would have left an unfamiliar attendant in the realm of this friendship feeling awkward and unwanted. Gaizka had learned better during the course of their interactions. This silence was the equivalent of laughter from the man. So instead, he tossed a wall of hair from his shoulders, stealing a glance at the lower streets of the kingdom. It was still heavy with early morning. Streets and shops remained mostly uninhabited, the scent of dew and fresh haze traversed the staircases. The long exhales and inhales from dragging a hookah was the only sound that this particular morning, and his counterpart, afforded him.

A lesser person would have simply made to leave, ready to dismiss their spirit of the stalemate conversation. That was when his company spoke again.

“It seems you're more serene than is typical of your lot.”

Gaizka gave a sigh, leaning forward to rest his elbows upon his knees, “Most people can't read me very well. Must be witchcraft.”

Warm yellow eyes slid to look at him, their expression sardonic and amused in their own right, “ _Obviously_.”

“Takes one to know one and all that?”

“You said it. Not me.”

The form-shifter turned his blue, blue eyes back towards the town, his hands clasping together.

“Perhaps it would do you well, and Stars know it would do the rest of us some justice, if you would simply state your case.”

“...I have more on my mind than mere magic, nowadays, Parthos.”

A cloud of smoke meandered towards the silver-haired man, the chronomancer's unnatural gaze upon him once more, “Mm. I've seen many men with this look before.”

“Oh?”

Pink hair bristled as the man's head bobbed with a nod, “Indeed. In my line of work, reading people's expressions means life or death.”

“What does my expression tell you?” Gaizka questioned, his nose wrinkling with slight amusement.

“Love.”

A shudder of anticipation and anxiousness shot down the other magician's spine, his large, thick-lashed eyes absorbing the other man curiously, “How did yo--”

“Is it the horticulturist?”

Sputtering, mouth moving like a fish begging for water, Gaizka scratched at his head furiously, “Ah, why are you _like_ this?”

“You asked me to tell you.”

“I take it back.”

“No take backs.”

“What are you-- five, Parthos?”

“In some timeline, I'm sure.”

“Alright, enough of that.”

Thick brows lifted in quiet delight. His lips parted again to suck at the hookah, “It was more of a guess. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.”

Gaizka's mouth lifted into a sly smirk, “That obvious, am I? Well...I can't be the only one being exposed like this. Bad for business, you see. So it's only fair for you to tell me as well.”

“There's nothing to tell.”

Matter of fact. Blunt. Nearly no wiggle room. Luckily, Gaizka didn't lose nerve easily. “I sincerely doubt that. In my line of work, details are everything. So, get to it.”

Parthos grumbled something under his breath before he looked away, “My prior statement remains. I have nothing to speak of. Not...anymore.”

That's when the man-of-many-forms felt his shoulders tense at his folly, “I...apologize.” He paused a moment before continuing, "What were they like?"

Lips pursing in thought, and memories flooding too fast, the mage drew a long breath, "Tall...he was...tall." The time-traveler busied himself with his flashy attire, adjusting the cape about his shoulders as he pondered a reply. “No matter. I do not indulge in such things anymore.”

“Right now, I'm sure. Things will surely change. You're a chronomancer, not a fortune teller. Leave that to Asra and his ward. You have too many lives ahead of you to simply dismiss all possibilities of such things.”

“I have grown accustomed to such a life.”

“But, you--”

“ **You**!”

Both men jerked their heads towards the balcony entrance, the thin fabrics parting to reveal a slightly disheveled Uriah mucking the air with his aggravation.

“I believe he means you, Gaizka,” Parthos mused, the entertained tone of his voice blatant.

“I know who he means,” The other hissed, turning his minute attention towards Uriah once more. “You've been looking for me?”

The man trudged in, pointing towards the way he came, “You made a right mess of my greenhouse. I refuse to clean another ounce of that catastrophe without your aid.”

Briefly, sharing a silent oath amongst themselves, Parthos and Gaizka looked at one another in parting.

“Do try to learn a thing or two, Gaizka. I worry about your horizons, sometimes.”

Long hair billowed behind his friend as the farmer's son marched him from the palace's awning. It didn't take an intelligent man to take heed of the look of excitement on his friend's face as he left with the man he loved.

Parthos studied his scarred palm; smiling to himself in privacy, wondering, for the briefest of moments, if he'd had such a look while in love.

“In another life,” He breathed, reaching for the hookah once more.

 


End file.
